This seems to be a day of “Where were you when you learned of President Kennedy’s assassination?” On THE TODAY SHOW, they were discussing other moments of “Where were you when…?”

KENNEDY ASSASSINATION: I was one month away from conception; however, The Warren Commission’s report was released the day I was born, September 25, 1964 (Ironically, the first day of teaching for Mr. Holland in MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS, but it was a Friday, not a Monday).  By 1974, I was fascinated with the contrasting facts, and have read about it since.

CHALLENGER EXPLOSION: in the library with a general music class at Northside HS. I saw a television in the audio-visual room was on, and some teachers were watching pre-take off.  I took the class into the room where we witnessed the explosion.

9/11: in my classroom at Kettering Middle School with an 8th grade general music class; Ann Snyder was teaching next door.  I turned on the television at the start of class to finish a movie on Beethoven, and the tape was not rewound from the previous day.  As it was rewinding, THE TODAY SHOW was on and they broke in about a plane hitting one of the towers.  I stepped next door to ask Ann how a small plane could hit such a giant structure. She turned on the television in her room.  As we chatted between the connecting doors of our classrooms, we heard our students yell out.  The second plane had hit.